The Indonesia World Underwater Photo Contest is now
accepting entries. The competition, organized by the Indonesian Ministry of
Tourism and Creative Economy, actually started to accept entries on 1
January, and will remain open until 30 November 2013. Images are being
accepted in 7 categories, with prizes for each as well as a prize for Best
in Show. Images must have been taken in Indonesia, and all entrants
submitted are required to have taken the images whilst diving with a
participating dive operator (PDO) and be accompanied by the local dive
leader provided by them. Entries are free but must be submitted via the PDO
Registration Form. Full rules and procedures are on the Indonesia
Underwater Photo contest website.

Nikon D7100

Nikon has announced that they will release a successor to
the popular D7000 SX SLR. The D7100 uses a new 24.1-megapixel DX-format
CMOS sensor, and is supplied without an optical low pass filter (OLPF). The
camera uses Nikon's proven EXPEED 3 image processing engine, and features a
native SO range of 100 to 6400. It has a new 51-point AF system and a new
Multi-CAM 3500DX AF module. For metering, it uses Nikon's 3D Color Matrix
Metering II 2,016-pixel RGB sensor and Scene Recognition System. Uniquely
and of interest for macro shooters, the camera offers a 1.3 x crop mode
which gives an extra telephoto boost (2X) with 15.4 megapixel resolution.
In addition, in 1.3 x mode, the 51-point AF array covers more of the frame.
It will be available in March 2013 for the suggested retail price (SRP) of
$1599.95

It was quite a weekend for dive shows, with Our World
Underwater in Chicago, the Golden Dolphin in Moscow and EUDI in Milan.
Italy's EUDI Show (European Diving Show) was actually the biggest scuba
show that I have attended outside of DEMA, despite the talk on the ground
of being smaller than people remember.

Compared to a British dive show (my reference in Europe)
the EUDI show was more focused on equipment and training than travel. A
talking point, this year, was the lack of the large glossy stands of the
big Italian manufacturers like Mares and Cressi, but when I arrived on
Saturday morning the show was super-busy. It was actually hard to move
around, although it was quieter in the afternoon.

Congratulations to Paul Colley who was
this month's winner of Focus On - Photoshop Bonanza. We invited members to
submit any image and do their best to be creative with Photoshop (or
whichever software they have). Paul's image is a compilation of various
images taken in the Ascension Islands.

Congratulations also to Sean Arrowsmith
who came second with an image showing fish transfering from one iPhone to
another. The original fish image was taken in the Red Sea and involved
several hours of masking.

Third place went to Keith Lyall with a
Photoshoped shrimp originally taken in Bali.

BSoUP Members only may view all the
entries (enlarged and with named photographer) in the
Slideshow Archive. You will be asked to login if you have not already
done so this session.

If you were not one of the top six and would like to know
how you scored, please contact Brian Pitkin.

Next month is the Theme Portfolio
Competition. The competition is open to BSoUP Members only. Please
read the Rules and
gudielines before entering via the Competition Entry Form. Deadline is
Sunday 10th March at one minute to midnight.

The results of the 2013 Wetpixel/DivePhotoGuide 'Our
World Underwater' contest have been announced. The contest attracted over
1500 entries from around the world, and the celebrity panel of judges which
included Alex Mustard, Berkley White, Vincent Laforet, Keri Wilk,
Mary Lynn Price, Steve Douglas and Eric Hanauer
commented on how high the standard was this year. The overall winner and
winner of the wide-angle unrestricted category was Sam
Cahir with his portrait of a mako shark (Isurus
oxyrinchus), entitled "Paris the mako shark". The winner of
the video category was "The Giants of Cenderawasih Bay" by
John Boyle and Fionn Crow Howieson. Many congratulations
to all the winners.

$40,000 in prizes will be awarded to the winners and the
results will be announced live on stage during the Our World Underwater
film festival in Chicago (February 15 & 16, 2013). You can view the
full list of winning images on the UnderwaterCompetition.com. Winning videos will also be
broadcast as episodes on DiveFilm HD.

February BSoUP Meeting

Wednesday, 20 February 2013

The next BSoUP meeting takes place on Wednesday, 20
February 2013 at 7.30 for 8.00 p.m. at our new venue, in Room G.01 in the
Royal School of Mines, Imperial College, South Kensington, London, SW7 5BD
(Directions). New and prospective new members will be welcomed
from 7.30 p.m.

One issue with our new venue is a lack of any local
source for liquid refreshment, so we suggest you bring something for the
break, some bottled water or something more substantial if you wish.
We are not aware of any rules regarding what can be brought into the
building but discretion would be sensible. We are researching other
refreshment options for future meetings and hope to find a better
solution.

This is the first in a new Technical Talk series we will
be offering, covering photo basics, lenses, mindset, lighting, composition,
close-up & macro, supermacro, wide angle, and workflow (and anything
else we think of).

Martha has been a BSoUP committee member
for over 10 years including a stint as Chair before Joss and JP. She
started diving almost 25 years ago and first took a camera under water
several years later, but blames a Martin Edge trip to Sipidan in 1999 for
tipping her over the edge into full blown underwater photographic
madness.

Focus On -Post-production Bonanza
The Competition is now closed. There were a total of 23 entries. BSoUP
Members may view all the entries on the BSoUP website (Competition
Slideshow). You will be prompted to log in if you have not already done
so this session.

Paul Duxfield:Scrap
metal salvage, an edit of a picture with potential, but quite a
few problems, and how to correct them, lightning fast in Lightroom.

Duxy will demonstrate some down and dirty cheats using
Lightroom to turn an image with potential, but lots of seemingly annoying
and time intensive problems, into something printable (perhaps!).

Duxy, who you last saw up in front of BSoUP in
August 2012, is now Scuba Travel's Photopro, providing photographic
coaching on liveaboard trips as well as in the UK.

During my last underwater photography workshop in Egypt,
I had the opportunity to test the LEO II PRO Video housing for the CANON
7D, designed by the Italian housing manufacturer EASYDIVE (www.easydive.it). During 5
full days of diving I took around 3000 shots and did some video, too.
Before going into details I have to say that I was very pleased with that
housing. Now, let's take a look inside:

The main
difference compared to all other u/w housings is that the only
mechanical control of the LEO II is the zoom-control. Everything
else is triggered electronically by using the camera's mini-USB port. The
'heart' of the housing is a matchbox-sized electronic unit that connects the
camera to button panels that you'll find on the right & left of the
housing (as parts of the housing's grips). In times when the big guys of the
industry produce at least one new camera model every year, making it
necessary to buy a new u/w housing too because of the different bits and
pieces (such as button positions), the revolutionary idea of accessing most
of all camera functions electronically produces a very pleasing advantage: a
multiple camera support. Read the full
article

Beneath the Seas - Results

The results of the 2013 Beneath the Sea (BTS) imaging
contest have been announced. The three major awards were awarded as
follows: The David Doubilet Award for Excellence in Underwater Photography
to Peter G Allinson for his hunting sailfish image, the Jim Church Award
for Excellence in Underwater Creative Imaging to Filip Staes for his
creation of a winged model underwater and the Stan Waterman Award for
Excellence in Underwater Videography to Erick Higuera for his film entitled
Baja.

Underwater photographer Alex Mustard, has written a comprehensive 5
page review of the Subal ND4 housing for the Nikon D4 SLR. Alex was an
early adopter of the D4, and published a review of the camera's performance
on Wetpixel last
May, so this review concentrates on the housing's performance. In
characteristic style however, he includes a wealth of information and
advice about techniques, tools and lens selections that are suitable with
almost any camera and housing combination.

Simon is a professional photographer, specialising in the
underwater world. Simon 'takes an idea and creates an image'. His clients
include Bike Magazine, the Daily Telegraph, Fourth Element clothing, the
National Archaeological Society and many other publications worldwide.
Simon is a member of the National Union of Journalists, holds the
prerequisite HSE SCUBA qualification and HSE First Aid at Work
certificate.

Wetpixel and DivePhotoGuide's second major competition is
making its final call for entries. DEEP 2013 offers over $40,000 in prizes
from our sponsors
with entries being accepted in 7 categories. New for 2013 are categories in
surf and shark imagery. Judges this year include Diego Garcia, David
Fleetham, Matt Weiss and Keri Wilk.

DivePhotoGuide has published a review of the Nikon D600
and Nauticam NA-D600 housing. Written by Keri Wilk and shot in the Cayman Islands, the review
has some great images of "Stinky" the troublesome loner dolphin that has
been a feature of diving in the islands recently.

Keri found the housing and camera's performance to be
very good however, slow initial sales of the camera seem to suggest that
many people have decided to choose the D800.

On its blog Sigma has published a preview of its revised 17-70mm
f2.8-4.0 DC Macro OS HSM lens. Previous versions of the lens have been
popular with APS-C shooters for underwater use as a "scouting" lens. New
features which should increase this versatility include macro capabilities
with a maximum 1:2.9 magnification (at 70mm) and faster maximum apertures
at all focal lengths. Not a new feature, but this version also has Optical
Stabilization. However, its minimum focusing distance of 22cm may mean that
it will be best used with a diopter.

Win a one-week liveaboard holiday to the Maldives
(excl. flights) for two people courtesy of Maldives Scuba Tours

The 2013 British Underwater Photography Championships,
organised by the British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSoUP), will
take place on Saturday 6th July at Mount Batten, Plymouth, Devon. All
underwater photographers are invited to participate, whether they are
members of BSoUP or not.

'Into the Blue', the website of Lesley
Boyes, is this week's choice. Lesley's photographs are intended to
provide a window into the fascinating and beautiful realms beneath the
seas. To capture a moment in time. To convey the joy and delight that is
experienced on every dive and to share a passion for diving and underwater
photography that never diminishes with time. These underwater photographs
provide a glimpse of my photographic journey - grom Bali in Indonesia to
the Red Sea and the Caribbean.

SUPS - Next Meeting

Tuesday 12th February, 2013

The next meeting of the Stevenage Underwater Photographic
Society will be held on Tuesday 12th February at the Stevenage Community
Arts Centre, Roaring Meg, Stevenage SG1 1XN. 8:00 pm start.

This month is their Annual Photographic Competition 2012.
So dig out your best from the stunning images you took this past year and
amaze us all. Vicki, their new Secretary, has sent out a copy of the rules
(Some amendments this year), so read them carefully before you up-load your
images onto the web-site for inclusion into the competition. Your prints
can be bought along on the night, so arrive in plenty of time to have them
registered before they are mounted on the wall frames. Tea and coffee will
be served during the evening.

The February edition of DIVE magazine is now available to
download. In it, Pamela Stephenson Connolly writes about the diving in
Belize and Honduras and Jo Mattock on Grenada. Cave diver and filmmaker,
Becky Kagan Schott, is interviewed in this issue and Cornish couple Deeble
& Stone are the featured filmmakers. Lastly, the magazine has a review
of the Liquid Image Ego HD action camera and an article about the compact
camera battle between Canon and Sony.

DIVE is available in version for Mac/PC as well as iOS
and Android devices. It is free to download after a registration.

NUPG - Next Meeting

Monday February 11th

The next meeting of the Northern Underwater Photographers
takes place on Monday February 11th at the Gurkha Grill, West Didsbury,
Manchester (map).

The 2013 Veolia Environnement Wildlife Photographer of
the Year is now open and accepting entries. Categories include Animal
Portraits, Behavior: Mammals, Behavior: Cold-Blooded animals, Animals is
their Environment and Underwater Worlds.

The deadline for entries is 25 February 2013. Full entry
details and rules can be found on the Natural History Museum's website. There are also comprehensive guidelines on
what is acceptable in terms of image editing.

Our World Underwater

Rosemont (Chicago), Illiinois, USA

February 17th-19th, 2013

Our World Underwater will take place between 15th-17th
February, 2013 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. The festival
includes seminars, workshops, symposiums and film shows.

"These annual lectures run by The London Diving Chamber
will once again be taking your minds off to stunning underwater locations
around the World and diving with both beautiful and incredible animals.

This year we are delighted to have two great speakers
whose lives we can only envy as they get to travel and dive some of the
most special places around the world. EMMY Award winning cameraman,
Michael Pitts and television presenter,
Paul
Rose, will be talking about some of their most exciting,
unusual and

sometimes simply dangerous dives that they undertake to
bring some underwater wonders to our front room.

The 'Dive Lectures' are held in support of Scuba Trust - a charity
devoted to giving people with physical disabilities an equal opportunity to
experience the pleasure and excitement of scuba diving and the underwater
world. Entrance will be free, but please help us fill those Scuba Trust
buckets on the night and let's make sure we beat last year's fantastic
donation."

"Underwater photography is, first and foremost, my hobby.
I enjoy immensely the challenges and rewards it provides and it allows me
to switch off from my day-job in I. T.

I first learned to dive with Torbay branch of BSAC back
in 1987 when I was 13 years old and I have not looked back since. Some
years were spent with Brixham SAA/BSAC as well as the branch at my
university in Cheltenham. I am now a Direct member of BSAC.

I started taking an interest in underwater photography
when the digital era made it relatively cheap for sport divers to take up
the challenge. Since then I have used a stream of Canon, Olympus and Fuji
cameras, including a dSLR, but I am currently very happy with my Olympus
PEN E-PL1 micro 4/3rds camera. For my style of diving/snorkelling it's
small size, quick responses and superb image quality makes it the perfect
companion."